Kyrgyzstan enacts Central Asia’s first comprehensive climate law

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (MNTV) — President Sadyr Japarov has signed Kyrgyzstan’s Law on Climate Activity, making the country the first in Central Asia to adopt a comprehensive legal framework dedicated to climate policy.

The law, signed on July 7 after parliamentary approval on May 20, will take effect on Jan. 1, 2027. The Cabinet has six months from its official publication to align existing regulations with the new legislation.

The measure brings greenhouse gas mitigation and climate adaptation under a single legal framework, covering climate finance, carbon neutrality, scientific research, professional training and technology transfer.

It also establishes the legal basis for carbon units and a national carbon registry, while separate regulations will govern the measurement, reporting and verification of emissions reductions. The United Nations Development Programme provided technical assistance in drafting the legislation.

The law replaces a more limited 2007 statute that focused primarily on greenhouse gas emissions, inventories and state monitoring. Unlike its predecessor, the new legislation incorporates climate adaptation, financing mechanisms, technology development and education into national climate policy.

Lawmaker Zhyldyz Egenberdieva, who advocated for the reforms during parliamentary committee discussions in April, said the previous law no longer reflected current realities and failed to provide a comprehensive framework for low-carbon development and climate resilience.

The legislation also formalizes Kyrgyzstan’s international climate commitments. The country signed the Paris Agreement in 2016 and ratified it in 2020. At the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow in 2021, Japarov pledged to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

The government subsequently approved a national carbon neutrality strategy in 2025 and adopted updated emissions targets later that year.

Under the new climate plan, Kyrgyzstan aims to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by 16.32% below projected baseline levels by 2035 using domestic resources alone. The target rises to 38.56% with international financial and technological support.

The government estimates that implementing mitigation and adaptation measures through 2035 will require between $12 billion and $15 billion.

The law comes as Kyrgyzstan faces mounting climate-related challenges. Speaking at the COP29 summit in Baku in November 2024, Japarov said the country’s glaciers had shrunk by 16% over the past 70 years.

The retreat of mountain glaciers threatens water supplies, agriculture and hydropower generation, which accounts for about 90% of Kyrgyzstan’s electricity production. Floods and mudslides linked to climate change have also increasingly damaged infrastructure, farmland and communities, making climate adaptation a central component of the new legal framework.

Although Kyrgyzstan contributes less than 0.032% of global greenhouse gas emissions, its first Biennial Transparency Report estimated gross emissions at 19.38 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2023. Carbon absorbed by forests, soils and other ecosystems reduced net emissions to 9.07 million metric tons. The energy sector accounted for more than half of total emissions, followed by agriculture.

The government has already begun building supporting institutions.

In May, it launched a $50 million World Bank-backed carbon finance initiative tied to independently verified emissions reductions. A separate partnership between the United Nations Development Programme and Eldik Bank aims to expand sustainable finance and climate-risk assessment tools.

The Cabinet must now develop implementing regulations, including standards for emissions reporting, carbon accounting, registry operations and climate finance. Those rules will determine how projects qualify for government support and how emissions reductions are measured and verified under Kyrgyzstan’s new climate framework.